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Army Blames Anti-War Movement for Drop in Recruits!!

pasted from the Observer | 21.12.2004 11:58 | Anti-militarism

Army blames Iraq for drop in recruits

Lorna Martin, Scotland editor
Sunday December 19, 2004
The Observer

Senior army commanders have expressed fears that the increasingly vocal anti-Iraq war movement is discouraging thousands of young men from considering a career in the armed forces.
They blame high-profile campaigns against the war, often led by bereaved parents and supported by celebrities and political figures, for worsening recruitment problems, particularly into the infantry.

According to military sources the high media visibility of bereaved parents, such as Rose Gentle, whose 19-year-old son was killed, and the unpopularity of the war have made recruitment and retention a problem, exacerbating an already acute recruitment crisis in areas such as Scotland. The problem is now also spreading to the north of England and Wales, forces officials say.

As well as a shortfall in young men volunteering, army officers have reported a wider reluctance to support a career in the army with parents refusing to sign consent forms for junior soldiers to sign up and, in some cases, local authorities with a strong anti-war sentiment refusing permission for recruitment officers to put up stands at local venues.

According to army sources the problem is also evident in the Territorial Army which has bolstered the regular Army's ranks in Iraq.

'People join the Territorials for a hobby,' said another source. 'They don't expect to end up being sent to Iraq for six months, taking casualties and seeing a lot of killing. There is no end in sight to the war in Iraq. That is what is really putting people off.'

The impact of the anti-war movement has also made itself apparent in the United States, where there has been a sharp decline in volunteers from communities - such as the black community - that have traditionally supplied soldiers. In the US this has been tied to a sharp increase in desertions - a problem so far not seen in the UK.

One senior source confirmed: 'The anti-war movement is exacerbating our recruitment problems. The effects have been particularly noticeable in Scotland, but are spreading to the north of England and we're beginning to see it as well in the west.'

New figures reveal the number of recruits joining Scotland's six regiments has fallen sharply this year. This was one of the reasons given last week to justify the controversial decision to merge Scotland's regiments into one.

Although senior officers blame social changes - including a more mobile workforce, greater access to further education and a change in the expectations of young people - the unpopularity of the war in Iraq is a new and worrying factor.

A source in one of Scotland's regiments argued against claims that there was a recruitment crisis. 'Some of the regiments have had their recruitment targets halved by the Ministry of Defence as part of their plans to save money on wages and training.'

pasted from the Observer

Comments

Hide the following 8 comments

Hello, National Service...

21.12.2004 15:03

I don't suppose that young squadies are bullied, humiliated and raped at Deepcut and other barracks could be a factor, or that they are being asked to go to war for spurious reasons on illegal orders from corrupt politicians working on behalf of corporations?

Just A Thought


solution

21.12.2004 16:06

The solution is to introduce National Service and Compulsory Service.

National Service for 16year old school leavers could be combined with an element of education. All males leaving school at 16 should be required to do 1.5 years with the Army, Navy or Air Force where they would be trained and drilled into military discipline, giving them a discipline to last their lifetime and boost their employability. Training and education would also assist in this and good recruits could be guranteed a job in the army after the service is completed.

All male 18yr old school leavers post 6th form could be required to join the Army, Navy, Air Force, or a new National Police Force which would operate as extra on top of the existing forces. They could be armed and trained and required to do high profile anti terrorist patrols and assist the ordinary forces on raids and operations. They should be required to do at 1.5yrs. This again would boost employability and the war on terror

Graduates should also be required to do military service on the same terms as the 18yr old school leavers but given slightly more options and groomed for officer roles if they show promise.

Females could be required to do their own version of National Service into nursing, administrative and support roles.

The country benefits from free personnel, discipline and increased employability of the people sent on the service.

Those who are unemployed and who refuse to seek work should be required to undertake 1 year postings to the army as part of Compulsory Service.

All National Servicemen should be required to renew training for 3 weekends per year until they hit 45, this would be a useful contingency and would help people stay fit and active.

HomelandSecurity


solution

21.12.2004 16:10

The solution is to introduce National Service and Compulsory Service.

National Service for 16year old school leavers could be combined with an element of education. All males leaving school at 16 should be required to do 1.5 years with the Army, Navy or Air Force where they would be trained and drilled into military discipline, giving them a discipline to last their lifetime and boost their employability. Training and education would also assist in this and good recruits could be guranteed a job in the army after the service is completed.

All male 18yr old school leavers post 6th form could be required to join the Army, Navy, Air Force, or a new National Police Force which would operate as extra on top of the existing forces. They could be armed and trained and required to do high profile anti terrorist patrols and assist the ordinary forces on raids and operations. They should be required to do at 1.5yrs. This again would boost employability and the war on terror

Graduates should also be required to do military service on the same terms as the 18yr old school leavers but given slightly more options and groomed for officer roles if they show promise.

Females could be required to do their own version of National Service into nursing, administrative and support roles.

The country benefits from free personnel, discipline and increased employability of the people sent on the service.

Those who are unemployed and who refuse to seek work should be required to undertake 1 year postings to the army as part of Compulsory Service.

All National Servicemen should be required to renew training for 3 weekends per year until they hit 45, this would be a useful contingency and would help people stay fit and active.

HomelandSecurity


a modest proposal...

21.12.2004 16:33

Furthermore, oyung people who show particular aptitude for military thinking in this proposed scheme could be seconded to specialist or elite units distinguished by, say, the wearing of distinctive brown shirts. They culd be used to track down and arrest any conscientious objectors from the national service, and otherwsie utilised to enforce the war on (internal ")terror("). People from ethnic minorities would obviously not be subject to national service as they owe allegiances to enemy states, and so could be relocated to special work-place zones where they could increse their employability and contribute to the national economy by performing low-wage work, being supervised by the afore-mentioned elite units. Hmmm...

anarchoteapot


How can this war be stopped (realistically)

21.12.2004 17:42


one only has to look at the history of the soldiers fighting in vietnam to answer this question. At the end of the vietnam war, the military elite did not have control over their solidiers, they had no choice but to pull the troops back home.

jonathan neale's book, american war (we in the west call it the "vietnam war" in the east,it is known as the "american war") provides amazing insight to the attitudes of the GIs and their resentment of the war.

did you know that the GIs started to disobey orders of their officers. At the end of the war, the officers almost had to beg their GIs to fight or at least they had to negotiate with them. There were many reports of "fragging" (killing unpopular officers) or threats of fragging.soliders started to produce propganda by producing rank and file newspapers which were distributed amongst the soldiers. all of these actions eventually helped stopped the war. we can learn from such lessons.

off course the anti-war feelings and demos played their part to convince the soliders against the government, more importantly the vietnanese resistance helped bring tthe troops home.

don't get me wrong, the soliders in iraq are not like the ones in vietnam (yet) but they are not a million miles away either.

in britain and the US there are organisations such as veterans against war and military familes against war. this is an excellent start which can be built on. we can also see muntinous behaviour in the soliders ranks. eg standing up to rumsfeld or disobeying orders of dangerous missions.

i like the story about rose gentle making anti-war speeches in glasgow with the audience being families of solidiers. she also organised a demonstration in pollock (scotland) recently which attracted ,by all accounts, a very working class contingent.

if you live in an area where there is a high concentration of military personal, who are against this war, organise a meeting ,film showing in the area. link up the soliders and families against this war.

The stop war coalition has organised a demo for 19 march, it would be excellent if the demo had a large contingent of military families against war on it.it would give the anti-war movement more creditability and make the arguement for "TROOPS OUT NOW" easier.

in other words lets give the soldiers the confidence to stand up against their superiors-there's class war in the army too. they know this is a war based on lies, politically motivated for oil and bush's re-election.many will return home because their tour of duty is over, butwhen they go back to war ,they will continue to be resentfull.

i look forward to the day when the british soldiers tell tony blair and his war to fuck right off..




red letter


cutnpaste with care

21.12.2004 18:21

i thought HomelandSecurity was being ironic even before anarchoteapot posted.

this is the second cutnpaste item in a few days on this site where the paster has been hasty - it doens't take long to delete all the advert items before posting so please could you.

also, a link to the original story would be nice - if you quote something it's helpful to reference it properly.

bobby


Maybe it's because they (the army) are a bunch of nasty spiky...

22.12.2004 11:47

british fascist perverts (certainly on a energy level).

CYMRU TRIBAL SOVERIGNTY!

Blessed be,

King Amdo

King Amdo


what advert items

23.12.2004 18:48

I can't see any advert items.

If you want to see the original item go to the Observer website and then search for it there. Next time I'll include the web address of the article I paste.

original poster